Stanford Scientists Develop A Computer That Runs Using Water Droplets

Imagine a computer that instead of transferring data around a circuitboard, transfers physical matter. Now imagine that the physical matter is in fact water - the one component you want to keep as far away from a computer as possible.

Well scientists at Stanford University have done just that, in fact their computer replaces electricity entirely, creating a physical computer that instead of using '1' and '0' uses physical droplets of water.

Assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford Manu Prakash and his team have been working on creating micro-computers that use a series of magnetised water droplets as tiny little 'suitcases' of information.

Using a grid of 'circuits', the team were able to use highly precise electromagnets to manipulate the direction and speed of these tiny droplets along their metallic superhighway.

The team aren't looking to replace silicon valley anytime soon though, instead they're hoping to build a new wave of physical computers that can manipulate and transfer physical objects at astonishing speeds.

These droplets could contain anything from physical objects to chemicals, turning the computer into a complex delivery system.